


Pugnatrix Regina

by MBMassin



Category: Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: F/M, Language, Lemon, Vampires, Violence, Weapons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-31
Updated: 2012-05-31
Packaged: 2017-11-06 11:25:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/418351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MBMassin/pseuds/MBMassin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The world has exploded and the Vampires have taken over. Follow Edward and Isabella as they find each other and try to stop the rise of the Volturi and their Night Fighters. Post-Apocalyptic romance. Action. Violence. Lemon. Language.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

EPOV

No one ever knew it would happen. No one even saw this coming.

It was completely unpredictable, abrupt, causing life as we knew it on Earth to shift back into the days of the beginning. Nature would soon be taking over once more.

The Earth's crust cracked, mountains crumbled, volcanoes exploded, valleys collapsed and the world had burst into angry flames, the heat melting buildings and deteriorating forests into ash. The human population had taken a severe toll, dropping over sixty percent in its numbers from the destruction caused by an Earth-shattering earthquake, along with the intense heat that the sun had cast onto the land from the lack of ozone layer. Any survivors only got away with their lives from being fortunate enough to be in certain spaces of the Earth's plate that remained untouched by the devastation.

The beginning of the end came with the constant uprising of global warming and deterioration of the Earth's mantle under developed and developing countries and finally pushing us over the edge – ending our world. The combination of the warming tied with the collapse of governments and security, slinging the world into uproar and eventually to the apocalypse.

Humanity had overtime ruined their world.

However, this had led to an unexpected uprising of the inhabitants of the supernatural world who had fled deep into the underground. They had dug down further and built an underground city complete with apartment buildings carved room stone and metal. They found solace in caves, ancient cities and even the sewers to escape the scalding sun during the day as well as avoiding the humans that had rebuilt a small city in the heart of an old town called Surrey in North America. It was a pitiful excuse for a city since it was just a cluster of stone cells that housed way too many people for its size.

The humans had taken over the surface and worked hard on making houses stand up to the intense heat of the sun during the day and left the house to gather the necessities. That was when the underworld would hunt. Especially the blood thirsty Vampires that go a month without feeding.

Vampires and Lycans took control of the post-apocalyptic world, leading to a feud between the species as well as smaller, less powerful species that became caught in the middle and had to choose sides. The witches and warlocks had taken the side of the Lycans that wanted the Vampire species to become extinct due to ancient massacres and battles. But the Vampires still had numbers as well as powerful Shapeshifters that did assignments for them during the day since the sun seemed to have no effect on them due to their regeneration powers.

After the world had been shook and devastated by an earthquake that tore every building down, cracked all the streets and knocked out every type of communication known to mankind, there was an hour of complete silence as those who had survived slowly emerged from the wreckage - Vampire, Human and Lycan alike.

The world was quiet. Not completely silent, but an eerie silence that had secrets. There was not a sound coming from anything or anyone. It held a dreary silence that gripped the secrets of death and destruction with bony and unforgiving hands. What remained of the buildings were mere shadows of their former glory, the majority of their facades now lying in crumbles around their base. The roads were littered with debris, garbage and even fallen trees. The devastation was heartbreaking.

I walked through the destruction with a heavy heart and a single, translucent tear dropped from my lower eyelid down over my cheek.

My name is Edward Cullen; I'm a Vampire that survived the 2012 apocalypse that had completely changed the world.

However, the only thing that I could think about as I shoved pieces of drywall and shattered wood from on top of me was where my wife was and the rest of our coven that we considered to be our family. I coughed white dust that I assumed was from the drywall and white sheen covering the air. The air was heavy with the dust and I slapped a palm over my mouth and nose.

Bella Swan had been my beautiful Vampire bride for almost a century before this natural disaster tore us apart. With beautiful chocolate brown eyes with long, wavy black hair that came down to the bottom of her ribcage. She was the only thing in this life of lonesome immortality that made it worth living. Our love was perfect in every way.

Bella was stubborn and short tempered. She was also an expert fighter thanks to her big brother, Emmett; a member in our coven which had a total of eight members, including Bella and I. He wrestled with her constantly and taught her how to fight with the help of Jasper,who was in the Army during his human life. Carlisle and Esme, who had grown to become the mother and father figures for the coven in addition to being our leaders, which was weird in the Vampire world.

Over the years, we had gone from a mutual respect of each other to loving one another and finally to becoming a family. It was uncommon and frowned upon by other Vampires,but it was just the way it was with us.

I crawled over the wreckage of what was left of my home, looking around at my surroundings. Everything was a giant pile of rubble except for the odd building that was either fully intact of missing a corner. My mouth fell open as I took in what I was truly seeing.

I thought of my family. I didn't know if they were alive or not. I desperately hoped that they were because I couldn't live on without my family.

I stood up, stumbling as the blood returned to my still slumbering limbs, brushing off the drywall dust from my plain grey shirt and leather jacket. When I looked down at my feet, I noticed Bella's matching leather jacket and crouched back down to get a closer look. I reached over to grab the jacket, yanking it free of the broken wood splinters and dusted it off so it once more looked black instead of white. I folded it over arm, noticing a hint of Bella's strawberry and vanilla smell still lingering along the collar. I brought the collar around my nose, inhaling the mixture of my scent and hers before I bent down to tighten my boots. That done, I allowed myself to look up and around at the wreckage of what use to be my neighborhood.

Everything was now a massive pile of rubble of what used to be there. Even in the pale light afforded by the moon in the almost pitch black night, it was saddening to look at.

Looking up at the moon, I whispered to myself that somehow, some way, I would find my family and my wife. I knew one way or another…I would find them…I had to.

My boots made faint clicks on the street as I walked through a clear path to the main street, my heart weighing a thousand pounds knowing that my family could be dead.

The streets were quiet and tousled, papers and building debris littering the cracked roads between what used to be busy street corners with shop fronts that were once filled with merchandise and people. Now they were empty with shattered windows and the top halves missing. The smell that lingered in the air was musky from the ash from the drowned fires that must have been put out by something. There were no signs of rain fall so I assumed the fire had just ran out of steam.

I kept my hands in my pockets as I wandered the darkened street, kicking at a small rock the size of a chestnut along the way. My throat burned with a miserable ache whenever I saw tattered billboards with humans on them, showing off their flawless skin that hid the veins that held the crimson life essence Vampires lived for.

My fangs lengthened, digging into my bottom lip as I stared at a woman's neck on one such board. I could almost see her pulse. I longed to randomly find a dying human lying about somewhere and feed but I heard no heartbeat or smelt any odor of a human anywhere. There weren't even the sounds of birds chirping or the buzzing of traffic. Nothing.

I shook my head, clearing my haunting thoughts as my hand left my jean pocket to clutch at my jugular which felt as if it was going to explode from my neck at any second. I could feel the strength quickly fading from my body, it felt like I was going to shrivel up like a prune and collapse unto itself. I needed to feed as soon as possible.

But as I looked out across the empty streets, I knew it would be a one in a million chance that I would be able to find a human with a pulse.

I wished more than ever that Bella was with me, she would have tried to help me deal with my thirst. But just before the world had ended, we had gotten into a fight which had ended with her darting off through the forest and running far, far away from me. I missed her so much and hoped to any God out there that she was alive and well.

I could almost feel her hand clutching mine inside my pocket but was disappointed when I realized it was just the fabric.

I looked up at the cloudless black sky, only illuminated by the strong pale glow the moon was casting on our destroyed planet. I silently prayed, to no one in particular really, to give me back my family.  
There was a loud crash of shattered glass and I whipped around to see a shadow moving to hide behind a bus that had fallen over and was lying on its side in a four way intersection.

I cocked my head to the side and examined the area for any more signs of movements as I took one, careful step forward.

"Who's there?" I barked into the night, my vision sharpening and focusing on the darkness, making it clearer. My fangs enlarged and I instinctively crouched into a feral stance.

The hairs on the back of my neck and forearms stood high and alert as my skin erupted with goose bumps. My instincts and intuition told me that I was not alone and that I was in danger; to run. I could smell the foul, musty odor that could only belong to a Lycan.

I took a few more careful steps towards the fallen bus, knowing that something was going to jump out to attack me. I looked around the area and glanced behind me out of paranoia and decided to get over the anticipation by crouching down and launching myself into the air, jumping onto the side of the bus with a growl ripping through my mouth as my eyes narrowed in on the darkness that was hiding danger.

As I predicted, just as my boot hit the crunching metal and glass, a massive Lycan the color of black ash leapt up from the other side, towering over me as it snarled.

It looked like all Lycans…reminiscent of its wolf cousin except that it was twice as big with bigger jowls and stood taller than a human. As if a Gray Wolf had overdosed on steroids. The beast's breath was foul with the scent of rotting flesh and its fur was covered in blood, dirt and dust. It must have fed on already decaying human bodies to survive.

I ducked as he swung a meaty and hairy arm for my head and slipped through one of the empty bus windows to escape him. He snarled furiously and dropped down on all fours to reach an arm in to grab me. I crawled swiftly through the sideways seats and focused on the emergency exit door at the back.

There was another crash as the beast dug its way into the vehicle and I quickly glanced back to see the imbecile struggling to get between the seats. I grinned back at him, flashing my fangs before crashing through the exit door.

I let a growl rip through my throat as I hopped back onto the side of the bus and found the wolf still struggling and snarling in a rage. I lowered myself down behind him, quickly wrapping my arms around the Lycanthrope's neck, swiftly twisting. A squeak and a groan left the beast after the snapping of his neck.

I stared down at the limp form of the wolf, making sure I could hear no heartbeat and that the heat of his body was decreasing.

When I was sure the beast was dead, I lifted myself out of the bus once again and lay back against the cracked glass of the windshield. I closed my eyes and urged my body to come down from the adrenaline and bloodlust so my head would stop spinning.

I imagined holding Bella in my arms once again, laughing as she giggled and blushed while I peppered her neck in kisses. I couldn't help smiling to myself at the very memory, desperately wishing she was beside me.

I took a deep breath before reluctantly opening my eyes to find someone standing there that I had not expected to see ever again.

"Alice?" I gasped as I rolled over and looked at her with my eyes bulging in disbelief.


	2. 2

EPOV

There she was.

My little sister standing about five feet tall with her shoulder length hair a tousled and knotty mess while she picked at her cotton long sleeved shirt, that matched the color of the sky and faded skinny jeans.

Along with some dangerously high boots that made me fear that she would twist her ankle and face plant into something.

Her big black eyes looked at mine, filled with sadness as she slowly reached a hand out to me as her bottom lip quivered.

"Edward!" she sobbed, reaching for my shirt as I dropped down to the ground and pulled her into my arms, crushing her head against my chest as she cried.

"What's wrong, Ally?" I whispered into her hair as I consoled her, my mind jumping to awful conclusions that I couldn't accept to be true.

She cried into my chest louder, her hands clawing at my back. "I can't find Jasper anywhere. I can't even see him. I need him, Edward!" she sobbed.

My eyes began to sting as I understood where she was coming from, longing for my beautiful Bella just as much as she was longing for Jasper to return to her.

"We'll find them, Alice. You have to get a hold of yourself," I whispered to her, my voice cracking with emotion.

"Edward!" she cried, clutching onto my arms as she tried to catch her breath.

"I know you need him back, Alice. But you have to calm down," I told her, massaging the back of her neck.

She took deep breaths and looked up at me, her eyes red-rimmed and glossy from unshed tears. I wiped her tears away and tried to crack a smile to cheer her up.

But we were both nursing aching hearts and couldn't find much light in all of the dark.

Alice leaned her head to my chest, taking deep breaths and slowly retracting her tense fingers from my shirt before she backed away. "I'm sorry, Edward," she sniffled, her eyes heavy and exhausted.

I pulled her back to me and wrapped my arms tightly around her, knowing that she needed her brother's support and that words would only make her twice as hysterical.

I knew exactly what she was thinking and feeling.

Her heart felt like it was hanging in her chest by one, tiny string and her lungs were constricted.

Her and Jasper's love was different than mine with Bella. Alice and Jasper balanced each other. With Bella and I, we needed each other like oxygen.

Alice kept him from entering a deep and dark depression from a horrible past and he helped her keep her head on straight since she was a raging lunatic.

They were a perfect couple.

Jasper was a man of few words and Alice was the most talkative person I've ever known.

I had caught them numerous times just staring at each other. No words were exchanged; they just looked at each other and communicated with their body language.

They did this when one of them had an issue, as a form of venting and solving the problem. It was very interesting to watch them when they thought they were alone.

"Edward," Alice sniffled, breaking me from my thoughts and hastily running a hand over her eyes to wipe away the tears. "We need to find Jasper. Now. I need him here."

I patted her back and tucked her head under my chin and stood there with her until she calmed down. She was shaking and sniffling almost every few seconds while clenching my shirt in her little fists as if I was going to disappear from her grasp.

I knew exactly how she was feeling right now.

However, she couldn't let it destroy her from the inside out. If I wasn't letting it, then she wasn't either.

She'd be forced to stay strong.

"Alice," I whispered down to her, putting a finger under her chin so she'd look up at me, her eyes were watery and red. "What is the last thing you remember?"

She took a step back and looked down at her feet. She then took a deep, unsteady breath and rubbed her face furiously before releasing her intake of air and started to explain, her voice was shaky and rough.

"Jasper and I were just on our way home from the store, since we had that big sale on all our new jewelry from those designers," she raised her eyebrow and waited for me to inform her that I was understanding what she was saying before continuing, "Yeah, so, on our way home we noticed the highway was a little cracked and we both looked at each other. We had that feeling. The feeling that something wasn't right – that something bad was going to happen. And...and…" her eyes welled up with tears once more, the pain in her eyes causing my eyes to start stinging with emotion.

"Take a deep breath, Alice," I murmured, my hands grasping hers as she struggled to get an even breath. She was breaking apart.

I had never seen her like this before.

Usually she was chipper and hyper – always up to something.

"Before Jasper and I even had a chance to react, a huge piece of the road erupted upwards just in front of us and slung us into the air. I didn't even think about it, I opened the door and dived into the air and totally forgot about Jasper. I don't even know if he's okay, if he made it. When I landed on the ground I was too busy trying to breathe normally."

She looked up at me then, her eyes filled with devastation and loss.

It broke my heart.

"We'll find him." I promised her."I doubt a car accident would take that man out. He's been through knife fights and underground boxing rings." I winked at her and couldn't help but to smile when she let out a small laugh, smiling through the tears.

"I've been thinking that too," she murmured in a small voice, wiping the tears away and forcing a smile.

"I need to find him... But I don't know how."

I nodded, and looked around at the fallen city that surrounded us.

It was hard to believe that this place used to be the thriving Canadian city of Vancouver.

From the corner of my eye, I saw that she did the same, a sniffle filling the deadly silence of the city.

I noticed the shattered glass all over the cracked or otherwise crumbled roads and sidewalks.

All the intersection lights had fallen and the road was littered with abandoned and destroyed cars.

I sighed and looked away from the destruction to focus on my lost and broken hearted sister that stood in front of me, her very being threatening to completely combust and shatter apart.

"Come on, we should start walking before the sun comes up," I said, grasping her petite hand in mine and walking down the main intersection through the ruins, hoping we could find somewhere underground to hide.

"Where are we going?" she whimpered, running to keep up with my long strides.

"Honestly?" I asked her, glancing beside me to her worried and emotional face, "I have no idea."  
She huffed, obviously annoyed by my answer.

Or the lack of an answer, but she followed along anyway.

She stayed quiet as we began walking through the rubble, looking up every once and awhile when she thought she heard someone.

Each time she realized it wasn't Jasper, wasn't anyone in fact, a tear would fall down her cheek and my heart would crack another couple of centimeters.

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and walked through the foggy dawn of the fallen city. Alice was small and she shivered before pressing herself closer into me, whimpering Jasper's name.

I let out a sigh, releasing the bitter taste of heartache swimming around my entire being as I listened to Alice. Her heartbeat was slow and she lacked her normal smell of expensive perfume from leading designer brands.

"We'll find him, Alice. I promise," I told her, a hand massaging her shoulder as we walked briskly through the dawn.

I don't know how long we walked.

We had made our way through three city signs so far.

"We need to get underground, Edward," she whispered in a cracked little voice as she stared up at the sky, the sun beginning to peek over the horizon, the temperature getting drier by the minute.

As soon as I turned to look at the sun, it was beginning to finally crack through and the awful UV rays released against the continent.

I could feel my skin begin to burn.

Alice shrieked, "Edward!" throwing her hands up to protect her face.

I ignored the blistering of my skin and quickly grabbed Alice and hid her from the sun while running us over behind a big, black SUV that lay on its side.

It was conveniently parallel to the sun and we crouched behind it, as I kept Alice's head down as I looked around for a dark alley or a manhole to escape through.

"Shit!" Alice cussed, grasping at her short brown hair as she glared at me. I could almost hear her screaming, 'I told you so' in her head at me.

"I'm thinking, Alice. Hold on," I told her as my brain began to go on overdrive while I tried to think of a way to get us out of here.

Looking behind us, away from the sun, there was what looked like to be a clothing store with a shattered window but a still intact door.

I wondered briefly if we could quickly break into the place and spend the day hiding, waiting for sunset to start our search again.

However, there were two problems with that plan.

One … there was no food for us and we'd end up starving to death.

Two… Alice would be bursting at the seams to find Jasper and sitting around playing the waiting game was not going to work for her.

Nor I.

We both needed our mates company once more.

My mind wandered to where Jasper could have gone.

Alice said the car had been catapulted into the air and they were both flung out of the car.

Jasper wasn't the kind of guy that just wandered around aimlessly with no knowledge of what he was doing or where he was going.

He was a thinker.

I tried to remember any hints that could have led him to somewhere to get help then I vaguely remembered a conversation we all had with our coven leader, Carlisle, who was also like a father to us.

He'd told us about another popular coven that lacked the respect for human life that our coven did. He also had informed us of underground night clubs and offices where these leaders resided.

The clubs were foul and only thrill-seeking humans went there to meet their deaths to prove a point of rebellion.

Realization hit me when I finally figured it out.

The leaders always had a few safe houses that were open for any stranded, or in danger. vampires. Jasper could have gone in search of one for medical help and food.

"That's it! That's where he could be!" I exclaimed, even more excited to get to the underground empire of the shady vampires in case Bella had gone there too.

"What?" Alice yelled at me, her eyes wide and red-rimmed from her tears.

I quickly looked around us again, visually imagining and remembering what the city looked like before everything was destroyed not even forty-eight hours ago.

I recognized where the streets used to be, the names and numbers forgotten.

But I could remember where the intersections and lanes were, recalling a memory when I had passed by them with Bella.

She had been curious and asked if we could go inside.

I remembered getting angry at her, wondering why she was even interested in entering a place run by the kind of vampires that made us sick. She got offended by my portrayed mistrust in her and slapped me before getting out of the car. She had then walked home with fury flickering in her deep, brown eyes, her arms crossed her arms in front of her chest.

She was stubborn and...adventurous. I was possessive and paranoid. We had always butted heads and argued about the smallest things. It wasn't the healthiest marriage, but it was ours. We were crazy about each other.

My eyes began to water as they scrutinized the buildings surrounding us in search of a place that might have a manhole we could climb into.

"Edward! Come on! The road is beginning to bubble for Christ's sakes!" Alice screamed bloody murder at me, completely drenched in sweat and absolutely furious.

I jolted back from my thoughts and observed what was happening. The SUV was half its original size from the blistering sun, both of us were drenched in sweat and the black asphalt was bubbling like fresh tar.

"Fuck!" I hissed, my eyes catching on the shimmering metal of a manhole cover almost ten feet away It was separated from us by bubbling, black asphalt.

"Oh, my God," Alice gasped as she caught sight of the manhole too. She looked at me, panic in her hazel eyes.

I grabbed hold of her face, stopping her from completely losing it, and made her look me in the eyes.

"We're going to have to run for it, Alice," I told her, taking a deep breath and gritting my teeth.


	3. Chapter 3

EPOV

She nodded, gulping and breathing swiftly through her nose. I nodded at her, encouraging her to bring out the fearless side of her that I knew very well.

When I saw the hardness in her eyes, I cracked a smile before letting her go and crouching low to prepare to leap through the scolding air.

"I'm going to jump over there and lift the cover so you can jump down the hole, okay?" I asked Alice, my voice cracking and shaking with what I was going to do.

I tried to visualize it, every move I was going to make, every arch in the air and my landing.

I prayed that everything would go according to the visual I had inside my head.

"God, Edward, you're going to be burnt to a crisp," Alice whispered, pulling at her damp shirt, then putting her hands on her hips and giving me a concerned look.

I smiled at her old habits coming back and shrugged. "Vampires heal fast. I know it's going to hurt…but it will hurt more just waiting to reunite with our mates."

Alice looked down at her combat boots and frowned, obviously uncomfortable with the plan but unable to see a reason not to do it.

"Don't be sad, Alice. Let's get this done," I told her, reaching back to poke her nose before lowering back into a crouch, preparing once more.

I hurled myself into the hot, dry air.

As soon as the heat came into full contact with my skin, I was being burned alive. It was excruciating and I screamed out until my lungs began to burn. I closed my eyes to protect them from being melted and flew blindly through the air, bouncing off the side of a faceless building before landing in the bubbling asphalt. I peeked to see the manhole cover and reached down to lift it.

When my fingers touched the metal, my fingertips and palms melted onto it and I shrieked out in agony once again.

"Alice! Now!" I yelled to her, holding the manhole cover above my head, my skin continuing to bubble and boil.

Alice yelled to me, warning me that she was jumping and I used my sense of hearing. Besides the sound of my skin burning, and the sizzling of all the surrounding materials being melted, I heard a grunt as Alice leapt into the air, screaming when the sun touched her skin.

The smell of my burning flesh was going to make me vomit and I tried focusing on my Bella to get me through this. I thought about what would happen after this; her and I being together again. And how I was never going to let her go again.

When I fully opened my eyes, which instantly began drying out and sizzling, I saw Alice soaring through the air, hiding her face in her arms before she dropped down the hole, landing at the bottom with a grunt.

"Gah!" I whimpered out loud before I stepped down into the manhole. Ripping my hands off the cover as it slammed into place,I crumbled to the ground in complete agony.

"Edward! Edward! Talk to me! Are you okay?" Alice cried to me, the icy touch of her fingers on my burned flesh heavenly.

"Alice," I groaned out, trying to get a hold on my mind to trick myself into feeling no pain. I wanted to arch my back and scream at the top of my lungs.

"Stay with me, Edward. Focus on speeding up the healing process," she told me, on the edge of hysteria. "Oh, Jesus, Edward. Half of your face is completely melted," she whimpered, laying me flat on my back on what felt like to be concrete. I had expected to be covered in sewage.

While Alice tried her best to help me by ripping off pieces of my shirt to wrap around the worst wounds and keep me awake and alert, I focused all of my energy on my body.

Imagining the blood pumping through my veins healed my flesh along the way, cleaning and re-generating it. I was frozen in the pain of my skin throbbing with the heat and I ignored the tears that escaped from my tear ducts that were surprisingly not melted over and focused harder on my healing.

Vampires were cursed with many inhuman powers that allowed us to live forever with the price of killing human beings.

By us living on the human essence of those we killed.

Not only did we live forever, but we were fast, strong and healed ten times faster than humans. It was a kind of mutation that had arisen when scientists first began learning about human anatomy and experimenting.

I didn't know the whole story, or even care to know, but we were a mistake – an abomination.

Our speed trumped that of a Cheetah. We could even outrun a Ferrari. It came in handy while hunting and our prey decided to get a head start and run from us.

Our strength came into play when we needed to hold the human in place for a feeding. We could bend eight inch thick, stainless steel in half with little effort.

The vampire senses were potent as well, our sight, hearing and smell concentrated almost fifty times. It came in handy but it also became a problem – if someone came in wearing too much perfume, we'd have to leave the room.

"Keep going, Edward," Alice's soft voice chimed through the haze of pain. "You're skin is starting to grow and smooth over."

I tried to take a breath, but instantly regretted it as the skin over my ribs tightened and ripped. I gritted my teeth to stop myself from crying out.

I held my breath and thought about my skin growing over, the fibers shooting out to each other, twisting and mending. A vampire healed by envisioning the process. It was a fact that made no sense at all, but it worked.

"That's it, Edward," Alice said with a smile in her voice. "Can you open your eyes yet?"

I grunted with my effort to heal and slowly cracked my eyes open. I was shocked and relieved when they opened with ease and I glanced around in wonder. I was met with Alice's bright smile and tried my best to smile back at her even though it probably looked more like a sneer or a grimace.

I took in my surroundings and noticed that the sewers were now completely dried up and the large tunnels that were dark and a bit smelly, actually had some lighting. I frowned and gave Alice a questioning look.

She followed my gaze and saw the dangling light bulb just a few feet away before looking back at me and shrugging, "Vampires are sneaky creatures," she said simply.

I wanted to laugh. But I knew if I did, I would start crying from the pain. "Ugh!" I croaked, settling back against the concrete wall I was propped up against.

"Do you need some of my blood, Edward?" Alice asked me, leaning forward to catch my eyes.

I shook my head slightly, "No."

"Edward…" she warned in a low voice while giving me a disapproving glare. I sighed and slowly opened my mouth for her to put her wrist against it.

She quickly squatted down beside me and held the underside of her wrist to my mouth so I could bite into her flesh.

She winced when my fangs shot out and dug into the soft skin of her wrist as her blood began to drip into my mouth. "Not too much, Edward. I need to hunt soon."

As soon as the blood touched my tongue, the bloodlust shot through my body and my hands shot up to grasp her arm roughly and hold it closer to my mouth. I could feel the crimson liquid slide down my throat and give me a rush of strength.

"Edward!" Alice growled, pulling her other arm back and whipping it forward, her palm smacking against my fully healed face, causing a sting.

I released her quickly and brought my hands up to my mouth, wiping away the blood. "I'm sorry, Alice," I whispered, extremely guilty that I had gotten so feral with her.

She licked my bite mark on her arm so it would heal before standing up and crossing her arms. "Mmhmm," she grunted, looking very unimpressed with me.

I smiled and rubbed my tingling cheek and winked up at her. "I'm glad to see my sister hasn't lost her touch."

Alice rolled her eyes at my sassiness and turned around to get a better look at where we were. It looked like there were four different tunnels we could choose to go down. The manhole we had chosen seemed to be in the middle of an X-shaped tunnel.

Perfect.

With a groan, I leaned forward, testing my newly healed body.

I lifted my hands in front of my face to have a look at them, noticing that they had almost completely healed. There were a couple of spots on my body that I noticed were still a light pink, not completely healed.

I ran my left palm over my right arm, feeling the gritty texture of my burned and healed skin. I was always so impressed by the anatomy of a vampire – how we were almost like super-humans.

Except for the fact that we had to kill to stay alive. That part kind of ruined the whole 'hero' thing.

"Do you know where to go?" I asked Alice as I rolled onto my feet and slowly stood up, my muscles screaming in protest and my joints cracking.

Alice winced, covering her eyes, "Jeez, I hate that sound!" she commented, shivering.

I cracked a smile, actually able to feel my facial muscles flex and move. "Sorry." My voice was very scratchy and weak.

Alice came closer to me and reached up to brush a piece of hair that dangled on my forehead, damp with sweat from the stuffy heat. "You need a haircut, big brother," she said in a small voice.

My heart clenched at her words, remembering Bella telling me that so often since I always seemed to forget. The ache in my chest returned and I looked down at Alice with sad, exhausted eyes.

She immediately read my eyes and as her own eyes widened, "I'm sorry, Edward. I didn't mean too." I shook my head, trying to ignore the ache.

"It's okay, Alice," I told her, trying to smile again. She looked down at her feet and blew her bangs out of her eyes.

Every minute spent sitting here, was a minute that they were possibly being tortured.

We couldn't dwell.

I decided to change the subject, not wanting the both of us to lose the strength we had built somehow on the road to find our mates.

"Do you know which way to go, Alice?" I asked again, looking around at the four tunnels. "You've always had a good sense of direction."

Alice gave me an exasperated look of annoyance before she turned around and walked to the mouth of each tunnel, gazing down each one with a look of hard concentration on her face.

I watched her carefully, paranoid that a Lycan was going to burst from one of the tunnels and attack her. My mind raced with everything that could possibly go wrong. Everything from the sun melting through the road above us to water suddenly filling the tunnels and drowning us.

"Jesus, I don't know, Edward," she whimpered as she darted between the tunnels, glancing at each of them.

"Go with your gut, Ally. You can do it," I encouraged her, waiting silently as she continued staring at each of the tunnels.

An idea popped into my head then. It was almost so crazy it could work."Alice, close your eyes and spin around and then go in the direction that feels right to you."

She turned back to me and gave me a look that told me I was off my rocker. "Seriously, Edward?" she raised an eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, Alice. We have no idea which way to go. Take a chance."

"We can't take chances, Edward!" she snapped at me, my eyes widening as she stepped towards me with flames flickering in her eyes. "We have to move fast and wisely."

I nodded, choosing to stay quiet because it wouldn't benefit either of us if I argued. She gave me one more fierce glare before looking at the tunnels again, her eyes flickering between each of them.

"This one."

Alice's voice was nothing more than a whisper as she walked to the tunnel mouth at the far left and looked over her shoulder at me. "This one seems to be in the direction of those shady nightclubs. But I can't be sure. I didn't get a good look at our position before we jumped down here."

I nodded and smiled. "Let's go!" I told her before running down the tunnel, my heart pounding as I thought about how much closer this got me to my Bella and Alice back to Jasper.

I could hear Alice's boots hitting the ground in unison with mine and glanced back to see her staring straight ahead, focused and determined. She was set on finding Jasper at any cost and knew the safe house and nightclub were our only leads.

"I really hope there are no wolves down here," I mumbled, mostly to myself, but didn't doubt Alice had heard.

"What?" she shrieked at me, her eyes widening in shock as she ran beside me, keeping up with my longer strides. "Lycans? I can't fight those awful things!"

Turning a slight corner in the tunnels, I rolled my eyes and looked down at her. "Yes you can, Alice. Your speed is no match for them. I've seen you fight one before. You danced around it and ripped it's heart out in a matter of seconds."

She huffed. "That was awful. And the beast ripped my favourite shirt."

"Really, Alice?" I asked her exasperatedly. "You were worried about your clothes more than the fact that you saved yourself?"

"Yes! That was a very expensive top, Edward! It was made just for me by McQueen before…" she sighed, slowing to a brisk walk and grabbing my arm to stop me from my jog. "I can't believe this happened, Edward," she whispered.

I took a deep breath, a bit annoyed the conversation had just taken a heavy turn. "I know, Ally. But it did and we had no control over it. It was going to happen from all the abuse the Earth had taken."

"Still. I thought we were just going to go through drastic changes. Like Spring becoming the Winter. Not the world completely changing its layout." She paused, twisting the plain silver band around her ring finger. "I heard on the radio before Jazz and I...you know…that New Zealand and Australia had compacted together and that Great Britain merged with France."

"Wow," I breathed, raising my eyebrows as I imagined a picture of the world and the continents moving and merging. It was almost as if our world had reverted to the way it was millions of years ago; as Pangea.

"Yes. This was no small change as I had predicted. This changed everything."

"But we survived, Alice," I told her, needing her to snap out of the depressed state she was heading to. "And I know we aren't the only ones. Humans, Vampires, Lycan – they all survived."

"I know!" she snapped, stopping to give me a dirty look before walking faster away from me and turning a corner.

I bit my tongue so I wouldn't go off on her and followed right behind her, to find her standing there frozen.

"Don't. Move," she breathed, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open as she stared in front of us.

I followed where she was looking and knew right away why she had stopped.


	4. Chapter 4

EPOV

I followed where she was looking and knew right away why she had stopped.

Right there.

Almost twenty feet in front of us were two Lycans.

They crouched in the deep darkness, staring at us with their jowls open, flashing their teeth as they both released gut-wrenching growls that made Alice flinch and step back.

That was a mistake.

As soon as Alice stepped back, they launched into a full gallop towards us on all fours; their eyes blazing with black hunger, bounding forward with their hackles erected on their backs.

"Alice, I hope you aren't too keen on your clothes," I told her as I pulled her back and prepared to leap into a fight.

She huffed in annoyance. "For fucks sake," she growled before crouching down and elongating her fangs as she released a spine-shivering hiss.

I looked at her with affection, loving my little sister with all my heart. She glanced at me but shifted her focus back to the huge dogs running towards us with the intention of ripping us apart.

The first one locked eyes with me and I smiled - the bloodlust and adrenaline pumping through my bloodstream with fury. With just a lift from my feet, I launched myself into the air and bounced off the side of the tunnel wall before tackling the beast down.

The Lycan snarled and whipped around in half a circle to throw me off him and into the stone wall, the impact almost knocking the wind out of me. However, the beast wasn't going to get the best of me just yet.

"I don't think so!" I snarled, jumping back onto my feet as the Lycan stood on its hind legs, standing three feet higher than me.

I bared my teeth at him, my fangs dripping with saliva as I snarled at him. The Lycan did the same, its paws parallel to its thighs with its sharp claws ready to rip into my skin. It shook its head and snarled before advancing on me.

I didn't hesitate and whipped a fist across its muzzle while kicking its solar plexus. It stumbled back away with a groan before snarling in anger and coming for me again.

The beast was relentless.

"This ends now!" I growled, taking the moment of weakness to start peppering the beast with punches to the stomach and face while I tried to get it on its knees by slamming my foot against its legs.

I saw Alice bouncing around and landing lethal hits on the Lycan she was fighting.

Alice's fighting style was very scattered yet clever. She used her petite stature to her advantage and got the beast on its knees in no time before leaping on its back, flicking out a switchblade from her boot and slitting its neck.

I groaned when my Lycan slammed the back of its meaty arm into my torso and sent me back against the wall, shattering a couple of ribs. I coughed as the bones instantly started to heal, but it didn't stop the pain that came with breathing. Every time I took in a breath, it sent a shock of pain up my spinal cord.

I coughed up a spot of blood and knew, as I stared at the red liquid in my hand, that something was punctured. But I had no time to let myself sit back and heal, I had a 400 pound dog on its hind legs, trying to rip me to shreds.

I groaned as I rolled back onto my feet, holding my left side as I stood back up to stare at the beast that was waiting, taunting me with a long, throaty growl.

Just as a roar ripped from the Lycan's mouth, Alice jumped on its back, slamming her knife into his lung and then jumping off.

"There. Now you're both equal," she said, backing away. I appreciated her leaving this one to me since I was now out for revenge.

"Ugh! I hate Lycans!" I grunted as I took a step forward and whipped my other foot around to clock the dog in the face.

After a satisfying snap and a last breath, the Lycan fell to the ground - dead.

The movement from the roundhouse kick crunched my ribs more and I dropped down onto my butt and leaned against the wall, panting for air.

Alice ran to my side, wiping her blade on her pant leg before closing it and sliding it into her boot, against her ankle. "Are you okay, Edward? Are you healing?" she asked quickly, her fingers probing my left side, searching for the broken rib.

"It punctured my lung," I told her quickly, my oxygen supply weak.

"Okay, Edward. Just concentrate on breathing and healing," she soothed me, stopping when I flinched away from her as she touched the tender spot on my ribs.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on my ribs snapping back into place and healing. I was sweating, probably beet red, and panting like a fish out of water.

When my rib snapped back into place, I couldn't help screaming out at the blinding pain of it.

"Shh, Edward. It's almost over," Alice mumbled, combing her hand through my sweaty, matted hair.

"Fucking hell!" I gasped as the pain suddenly subsided and I was left dizzy and disoriented.

Alice sighed, running a hand over my forehead, "You're just not having a good day for staying out of trouble, are you?"

I groaned at her sad excuse of a joke and started to slowly stand up. "Ugh! I suck at not getting injured. First burned to a crisp and then a punctured lung."

"Yeah. You should get an award."

I just glared at her.

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, come on. I want to get to that safe house and find Jasper," she huffed, jumping up onto her feet and running down the tunnel that was blocked by the two Lycans that now lay on the ground, cold and dead.

I nodded, glancing back at the unmoving Lycan bodies that lay on the cold concrete of the tunnel floor. I was surprised they didn't morph back into their former human bodies. I half expected them to jump back onto their feet and start chasing us again, but they didn't.

They just lay there...unmoving.

I took a deep breath and looked to Alice. She nodded with careful eyes, judging my reaction before she started running down the tunnel once more.

We ran through the tunnels for hours, having to retrace our steps and go down other tunnels in hopes of finding a stairwell that would take us straight into the safe house that could possibly be housing Jasper.

The tunnels were pitch-black and we spent an obscene amount of time trying to get our eyes to focus so we could just make out the walls as we ran. It was cold and the smell was repugnant from the carcasses of dead rats.

"Alice!" I gasped when I finally saw the rusty handles and steps of the staircase.

She glanced at me before squinting to see the staircase. When it came into focus, she ran for it, stomping up the stairs and shoving through a wooden door that fell off its hinges to the ground. I followed quickly behind her and kicked the door to the side and looked around the room.

It was nothing fancy and it was kind of gross.

It was a small rectangular room with a bed in the far corner with a mini-fridge across from it. That's where some blood would be. I swallowed down my thirst and looked at the wall to my right, there was a plain wooden desk with a computer on it, a red light on the hard drive cluing that it was active. I could use that to track down any other possible leads.

"Jasper? Jasper, where are you?" Alice called out desperately, walking over to the bed and looking under it, then spinning around to look at me, her eyes glassy with unshed tears.

I had a dreadful feeling that he wasn't going to be here.

I didn't know what to say to Alice so I quickly went to the computer and turned it on. Pointing to the fridge, I said, "There should be blood in there. You should feed."

She sniffled before running over to the fridge. Ripping the door out of the way, she grabbed two bags and sat on the bed, biting into the top of one of the blood bags and sucking in the liquid. She slurped and swallowed it down quickly before laying down on the bed, completely silent.

I glanced over my shoulder at her, seeing the heartbreak in her eyes. I bit my lip and yearned to go comfort her, but we had no time to waste.

Every second that flew past was another mile Jasper could have gone.

I turned my head away from Alice and typed furiously on the computer, opening up a tracking program that had the coordinates of other safe houses, clubs and mansions owned by these Vampires.

My fingers blurred as I tapped at the keys for information, not even sure how I knew what I was doing since I wasn't a computer person.

I stared at the monitor intently, searching for what I needed in order to find Jasper and Bella.

The screen changed from coding that I couldn't understand, to a page with a bunch of names of streets and video surveillance streams. I grinned when I saw inside the homes of the Vampire leaders and the crowds of dancing people in their nightclubs.

"I got it!"

I heard Alice get up and come to look over my shoulder as I typed in their names to see if they were on any of the lists affiliated with these people.

My mouth fell open when Bella's name came up as a match. My heart started pounding and my lungs constricted as I lost my breath.

A photo of her with her long brown hair, tousled and messy, running down her shoulders and deep, dark eye make-up around her rich brown eyes complete with a small smirk on her face popped up and I couldn't help but smile.

"Bella," I whispered to myself.

"She's going by a different name," Alice pointed out.

I looked down at her name in big block letters underneath her photo. Isabella Swan.

"Swan?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Isn't that her maiden name?" Alice asked me.

I nodded, glaring at her last name on the computer screen. I didn't like that she had gone to these people and had given them her maiden name. She was mine.

"Let's see if I can locate her," Alice piped up, pushing me aside and typing away. She was the technology whiz in the house.

I stepped back and watched her as she clicked and typed furiously, her eyes scanning over the monitor for a couple minutes before she pointed to a camera that was showing footage from an underground Headquarters for the Volturi Night Fighters.

I frowned as I watched Alice work, flipping through different windows. "Volturi Night Fighters?"

"Yeah," she sighed, "I heard about them but I didn't know it was true. They're a revolutionist group that want to come out to Humans and take over as the rulers of the world. It's like a bad comic book," she explained, sounding unimpressed and bored about it.

"Is Bella with them?"

"I think so, yeah. I don't know about Jasper though. I'm almost onto it. He hasn't checked into a safe house yet and the cameras show no movement," she said in monotone, her focus more on the computer than me.

"Do you know how to get to the headquarters place?" I asked her, hoping she'd answer.

"Uh huh. It's underground and going straight north from here. It looks like a lair from the blue prints."

"North," I hummed, smiling at the fact that we were so much closer to reuniting with Bella.

"Aah!" Alice squealed, making me step forward, suddenly alert and paranoid, "a safe house just activated!"

I looked over her shoulder and saw that she had made the security camera full screen and Jasper, covered in soot and roughed up, was rummaging through the fridge for bags of blood before biting into them and drinking.

"Oh, Jasper," Alice sobbed, quickly wiping her eyes and smiling. "We got to go," she announced after she found out where he was, which was also north.

"Let's go get them, Alice." I smiled, pulling her into my side and kissed her hair.

"Yes. Let's go get our significant others," she joked, sticking her tongue out sideways and crossing her eyes.

I laughed before letting her go and running ahead down the stairs and down the long tunnel leading north with Alice hot on my heels.

We ran fast and hard, our boots slapping the stone floor as we sprinted. We went faster and faster until we would have been a blur to human eyes.

The only thing I could think about as I ran through the tunnel, that seemed to go on forever, was having Bella in my arms again as well as the look of hope and love that would return to Alice's eyes as she sank into Jasper's arms. I wanted that to happen – I needed it to happen like I needed air.

And I knew Alice needed it too.

"Alice! How much further?" I huffed to her as we ran, watching her out of the corner of my eye.

"You have about four more blocks, I have six," she panted back.

"What? What do you mean you have six blocks? Where the hell are you going?" I hissed at her, completely flabbergasted that she was going to split up with me.

She rolled her eyes but kept up her pace. "It will be faster. We can meet at the safe house later."

"Alice! No. You're coming with me to find Bella and then we'll go find Jasper before getting the hell out of here."

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Edward. But I need to go get Jasper now – not later. Just like you need to get Bella now. It's the only way."

I growled when I had to accept that Alice was right and I couldn't deny it. So I just shut my mouth and kept running, frowning to myself when I spotted the staircase that lead to the lair.

Alice and I stopped right in front of the staircase and were looking at each other when a scream erupted deep inside.

"Stay strong, Edward. We'll meet just between here and the safe house, okay? It's two blocks north," Alice told me, wrapping her arms around me and reaching up to kiss my forehead. "Be careful."

"You too, Alice. Stay safe," I told her before she flashed a smile and disappeared down the tunnel.


	5. Chapter 5

EPOV

I was instantly worried about her but pushed that aside as I faced the stone staircase, my heart pounding as the paranoia and my nerves began spinning out of control.

I slowly travelled up the steps, staying low and close to the wall.

I couldn't stop the sound of my heart throbbing in my chest and I was worried someone would hear it.

I slunk through the stone hallways, hearing the voices of arguing people.

There were more shrieks of humans in fear as I walked into the underground cave that belonged to what smelt like Vampires. The smell of blood was potent and tore at my already throbbing jugular.

The need to feed was excruciating.

I looked around at the many tunnels that led to various places of darkness before I heard the voice I had been craving to hear once again.

It was my Bella.

I slinked against the wall of the tunnel with my heart threatening to burst from my chest, edging closer to the sound of Bella's voice coming from the larger cave.

She sounded hard and angry, completely different than the Bella I had once known.

When I neared the corner that led into the cave that my wife was in, I slowly leaned over to peek inside. Bella was in an old fashioned long sleeve shirt with blood-red roses on it and a black corset that accentuated her perfect curves and bosom.

Her toned legs were clad in leather and she also wore a long, feminine leather jacket that hung past her feet that were in army boots.

My wife had completely changed.

She stood at the end of the table, an angry expression on her face as she negotiated with three other men and another woman. She looked fierce and completely hardened.

"I don't care if we don't have enough numbers; those monsters have been attacking us in the middle of the night and dismembering us. We have to stop this!" she hissed to the table members, her brows furrowed and her mouth tight.

"We still cannot declare war on the Lycans so soon after the world has ended. We need to rebuild our city so we actually have something to destroy!" one of the male members shot back at her, his voice dripping with sexist sarcasm.

I instantly wanted to fling myself across the room and snap his neck for talking to her like that. Bella was twice as intelligent as any asshole in this underground dungeon.

"Shut it, Alec!" another man hissed, glaring at the boy that had just smart-mouthed Bella with disapproval before turning his icy gaze to Bella.

"Now, my dear, what were you proposing?"

She shot another glare at the boy with dark hair and red eyes and then focused on the other man that held the presence of a leader.

"What I was saying, was that we need to act now, before they make another move on us. This world now belongs to those of the night and we can't let them take over," she ended with a huff, sitting back in her seat while glaring at Alec who smirked at her.

"Brilliant idea, Isabella!" The older man clapped with a smile. "But, my dear, we still have to think about what we're going to do since our world is still in ruins. Don't you think it would be wise to start rebuilding our city before we think about starting a war with the Lycans?"

Bella nodded stiffly, staring at the man and ignoring the snickering boy. I admired her tolerance.

"I still think we should at least do something for security, Aro," she mumbled, pulling all her hair to one side and running her fingers through the long, onyx strands.

I felt my heart clench at the sight of her doing something that she used to do all the time when she was deep in thought.

However, as if she could hear my thoughts, she threw her hair back and ran a hand through her bangs, closing her eyes as she thought about something.

"Aro," said the other older man in the group, who had long blond hair the color of hay. "I think we should take some security precautions to ensure no Lycans get into our territories."

Bella smiled to herself, her eyes darting around the room as she thought about something that she shouldn't be thinking about. I knew that face very well.

Aro pursed his lips and pondered to himself, holding his fingertips together on the table as he weighed his options.

"If I may intrude," the boy named Alec interjected, "I think we should still start creating an army for when we do strike the Lycans. However, I guess we do need to start cleaning up the mess that the incompetent humans brought on." He rolled his eyes and made a face like he had drank sour milk.

I felt a sneer on my lips as my fangs slid out and I prepared to launch myself through the archway to rip that little shit to pieces.

I took a step forward just as I caught Bella's eyes and they widened as her mouth fell open.

I stood frozen, unsure what I should do now that she had seen me.

I wanted to go to her as her eyes began to water, but I knew if I did, whatever she was doing here was going to be ruined. I didn't understand or know what she was planning, but she was my wife, therefore I knew her better than anyone.

Her dark eyes wandered around my face as her mouth fell open, but as soon as she realized she was showing too much emotion, she snapped her mouth shut and glared at me.

I gazed steadily back at her, trying to let all my love for her flow through our eye connection. I wanted her to know how much I missed her and loved her.

Bella noisily cleared her throat before quickly dismissing herself from the conversation, stalking over to me with a glare that gave me goose bumps.

She jerked her chin forward, telling me to get out the way I had come and I did what I was told.

I quickly ran to the open sewer and hid on the other side of the wall, making sure we were out of eyesight to be caught as well as far away enough to not be heard.

"What are you doing here, Edward?" she hissed as she turned the corner and ran into me.

I ignored her tone and wrapped my arms around her, hiding my face in her sweet smelling hair. "Oh, Bella. I missed you so much, love."

"Edward!" she snapped, shoving me away from her with a glare that made me frown in confusion.

"Bella?" I questioned, looking at her sideways, "What the matter?"

"Why are you here, Edward?" she hissed, looking towards where the other men were before looking back at me, conflict in her brown eyes.

"I've been looking for you everywhere, love. Alice is somewhere else in this place looking for Jasper," I told her, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear.

She slapped my hand away and growled, "Jasper isn't here. Now take Alice and get out of here. Go find everyone else and wait for me."

"What? I can't leave you again. What is going on with those people?" I demanded, devastated that Bella didn't want to come with me.

"I can't leave, Edward," she told me, her eyes darkening with sadness. "I can't go with you since there is now something I have to do. I'm sorry."

I stared at her like she was insane before I felt the anger surge through me at an alarming rate. "Are you leaving me?" I growled, my voice catching as the devastation took on another level.

She pressed her lips together and reached for my forearms, wrapping her fingers around my elbows and looking up at me with sparkling eyes. "I will never leave you, Edward. But you have to leave me now. Find a place to stay, find the rest of the family and wait for me there."

I shook my head and lifted my hands to hold her face. She looked around us to make sure no one was watching before she rested her hands over mine. "I can't leave you, Bella. Tell me what's going on. I could help you."

Her eyes began watering and overflowing, a single tear running down her cheek. "I can't tell you, Edward. But you have to trust me. I will always love you," she cried silently, pleading for me to understand.

"Bella," I whispered to her, leaning my forehead against hers in the darkness, "please tell me what happened. What led to this?"

She took an unsteady breath, her fingers clutching mine tightly as if I was holding her together. "That day I left you and fled into the forest, I ran into them. The Nox Pugnatores. They're a group of Vampires that are bent on enslaving human kind, and killing off the rest of the supernatural species on Earth."

"Oh, Bella," I gasped as I pulled her into my arms, my nose rubbing against the top of her forehead.

"No, Edward!" she whispered, pushing me away from her and hastily wiping away her tears, "You have to leave. Get out of here before they find you."

I grabbed her hands as they pushed against my stomach. "I can't leave you and I won't. It's been awful these few months being away from you."

"Edward. Please. You have to flee while you can," she begged, pushing me backwards to the exit.

I stood my ground and didn't budge. "I'm not leaving you," I stated stubbornly, locking my jaw as I glared back at her.

"Please?" she breathed, her body beginning to tremble.

I shook my head, telling her that I was staying beside her whether she liked it or not.

"I don't want you to make me do something I don't want to do, Edward," she said, her voice hardening as she glared at me.

Within a blink of the eye, she had wrapped her fingers around my neck as she snarled at me. Her fangs bared and her black eyes shimmering with fury before she turned me around and dragged me back to the room with the table full of men, screaming at them.

I clutched at her fingers, fearing what she was doing since I didn't know, or even understand, this side of her.


	6. Chapter 6

EPOV

I didn't know this Bella.

This Bella was hard and ruthless, with no room for understanding or caring. She wasn't the woman I had married who was always bashful when I complimented her.

Before I could try to save myself, Bella had thrown me on the table that she was arguing at with the men just moments before, reporting me as a wanderer that she had run into.

I stared at her in disbelief but something in her deep brown eyes told me to keep quiet and do what I was told.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" The leader, Aro, pondered while staring at me with a faint smile that made my skin crawl like I was covered in spiders.

I curled my lips back at him before pushing air between my teeth, sounding a hiss in warning.

He raised his eyebrows at me before looking at Bella. "Do you know this man, Isabella?"

She nodded stiffly, "I knew of him before the end of the world. He was an old friend."

"Ah," he sighed, his icy blue eyes focusing on me once again, "You seem to have a certain presence that tells me that I shouldn't kill you since you could be useful," he mumbled mostly to himself, thinking out loud. "But to make sure you don't cause any trouble, you shall be imprisoned until you become useful."

"Wait," the young one named Alec spoke up, his eyes scrutinizing me as I lay on my back on the table while Bella's hands dug into my shoulders so I wouldn't move. "There's something different about this one. I think we should see if he's trustworthy enough to become a Nox Pugnatores."

I restrained from lifting my eyebrows at him, surprised that the little weasel would assist in my escape from execution.

"Yes, another Night Fighter would be good for us," Aro thought out loud again. "Take him to a jail cell, Isabella."

Bella nodded and glanced down at me before curling her arm to grab the back of my neck, and dragged me off the table and out of the meeting room towards the opposite hallway from where I come in.

As soon as we were out of earshot from the leaders of this benign clan, Bella released me but continued to lead me somewhere, not even looking back to see if I was still following her.

She was silent and angry from the look on her face, her hands folded in front of her as her jacket trailed behind her like a cape.

"Bella?" I whispered to her as we continued down a tunnel only lit by torches that hung from a large, rusty nail every twenty feet or so.

"Shut up," she snapped right away as she turned a corner, yanking on the tail of her jacket, causing it to make an angry whipping sound that made me wince.

I never liked fighting with my wife.

Her glares and scowls always tore at my insides and I eventually would be on my knees groveling and begging for her forgiveness.

I followed her like she had told me, chewing on the inside of my cheek as I fought the need to grab her, grasping my wrists behind my back to refrain myself from touching her.

"I told you to run, Edward," she finally sighed as we entered another cave with a small, metal door with shimmering steel bars in front of it, along with heavy chains and a padlock the size of a football.

I immediately jumped back away from the door, my back against the corner as I stared at the entry way that was only five feet high and two feet across.

Silver caused the sensitive skin of vampires to burn and sting with just a touch. Even though we could regenerate in a matter of seconds, it still hurt like a motherfucker to come in contact with it.

Bella glared at me before reaching into her coat pocket and taking out a pair of tight leather gloves that had silver spikes lining the knuckles. She reached into her pocket again and pulled out a gold key and slipped it in the lock before untying the chains and dropping them to the floor.

"You should have listened to me, Edward." She sighed sadly, gesturing for me to walk through the now vacant doorway.

"I'm sorry. But I can't leave you again, Bella," I mumbled back to her, quickly slipping into the cell and stepping a few inches away from the silver doorway.

"I know," she nodded, "but now you're stuck in this mess, too."

I frowned at her, cocking my head to the side as she leaned against the metal bar against the wall. "What do you mean?"

She took a deep breath, running a gloved hand through her hair and shifting the heavy onyx mane to her left shoulder, showing me her long, porcelain neck.

I tried not to notice it too much. Now was not the time to become aroused.

"It means that you are now an unfortunate recruit for these monsters that want to completely destroy the world - further than it already has been," she explained, lifting up her hand and pushing a bit of the glove away from the creamy skin of her wrist to show me a small crow in flight. It was about the size of a pebble. "This is what you get when you pass all their tests."

I ached to walk over to her and run the tip of my pointer finger against her skin, but thought it would just make it harder on her since she was struggling with so much right now.

"I'll have to find Alice and tell her to flee before she gets caught by someone else who won't show any mercy," she explained to me, before shutting the jail cell door, lacing the chains through the bars and locking me in. "I'm sorry, Edward."

I stared in shock as she gave me one last look of pity before turning around and walking down the hallway away from me.

I felt the need to scream for her to come back to me and tell me what was going on in full detail, leaving no blanks for me to figure out the hard way.

However, I knew Bella better than anyone else, including her, which was why I trusted her to know what she was doing in whatever she was caught in the middle of.

But what really bothered me was how she had never told me the full story, from start to finish, of what had gone wrong with us. From when we had our argument about my useless jealousy over men that constantly drooled over her like salivating wolves, causing her to run away from me in a rage, to where we stood now.

With a nervous exhale of relief, fear, frustration and pain, I turned to look at the space I was bound to spend a couple days in, with pity.

It was another little cave with concrete reinforced walls and a small opening to the outside world which was adorned with restricting metal bars that gave off the vibe of being peppered with silver fragments.

I decided to sit against the cave wall just under the little window, and stared at the bars where Bella had left me with no expression at all on her face, as if she truly could care less about me.

My mind was reeling.

In a little over three months, if my calculations were correct, the world had completely ended and was now starting to slowly heal.

Three months lost before finding out what I just had…that there was a war between these Night Fighters and the Lycans.

A war that was making this emerging new world a hazardous place to be.

I shook my head and pulled furiously at my dirty hair as everything; emotions and information alike, bounced around in my head like a sugar-high child. I ran my fingers again through my dark, thick hair that was once styled in a faux hawk but was now a disarrayed, greasy mess on the top of my head in frustration, wishing I could just comb away my worries and go back to happier times.

I began worrying about Alice, knowing how fragile and lost she was without her significant other that usually was there to balance her out. I feared that she might have gotten into trouble and gotten caught, perhaps even killed.

I bstarted picking at the laces of my worn leather boots, no longer did they have a nice shiny finish, they were now dull and scuffed. I felt guilty, selfishly thinking of buying a new pair, if there were even any to be found, instead of focusing on the problem at hand.

"Bella?" I whispered out in my jail cell, hoping that my Bella would turn the corner and come back to me.

But no matter how long I stared at the doorway, she didn't appear.

I put my head down between my knees and began to think and plan as I had three major problems now that I needed to fix.

One, I was stuck in a concrete bunker with a door that I couldn't touch and a window that I couldn't even get my head through.

The second was Alice. I needed to warn her to hide or tell her to run far away, and tell her to do what Bella had told me.

My third problem was my wife. I needed to save her from these people that had somehow trapped her in an army that she didn't really want to be a part of.

I could try to break out of here when a guard or someone else opened the gate, and make a beeline for Bella before getting her out of here. However, she seemed to be extremely loyal to these strange men that wanted a war between the dominant races of our new world, so I couldn't be sure she would willingly come with me, even if I could locate her.

I understood that Bella was doing what she had to do otherwise she would be killed, but what I couldn't bring myself to understand was why she hadn't run away – far, far away.

I intended on finding out as soon as I could.

My head snapped up to the sound of footsteps coming down the hall.

Instantly, I jumped up and hid myself just inside the doorway so I couldn't be seen, waiting to grab whoever was coming and dispose of them, and then get to my Bella.

The visitor made no noise other than the click of the padlock opening, and the crash of the chains hitting the ground before the door swung open, and the visitor stepped in.

I took no chances.

I immediately stepped forward and wrapped my arms around the intruder's neck before taking them down to the ground.

"Edward! Get off me!" my Bella snarled at me, pulling a hand back and connecting her fist with my jaw, knocking me off her.

I rolled off her and pressed a finger to my lip where Bella's fist had connected with my mouth. "Ow."

"What the hell is your problem?" she shrieked at me, standing back up straight and dusting off her jacket, while giving me the stinkeye.

"I'm sorry," I told her, my tongue darting out to taste the blood on my bottom lip, "I thought you were someone else."

"Yeah, right," she huffed, before shaking her head and looking at me from head to toe, a strange look in her eye. "We need to go."

She shook her head to rid herself of whatever she was thinking, before walking out the door and turning around to look at me, raising an eyebrow. "Are you coming or are you going to stay there and gawk like a moron?"


	7. Chapter 7

EPOV

I gazed at her in wonder, gaining a fleeting hope that my Bella was still in there. "Why are you doing this?"

She sighed, walking back into my cell, coming to stand right in front of me, she placed her warm palms on either side of my face. Her touch, even if she was wearing the leather gloves, shocked me into losing my breath.

This was something old Bella would have done.

I inhaled sharply, my eyes fluttering shut as my hands came up to cradle her hands against my face while I bathed in her touch.

Her touch was home for me, especially in this time of darkness and pain.

When I opened my eyes to look back her, she almost looked like her old self…besides the leather and the darkness of her hair. I also noticed that she had an eagle feather knotted to a small clump of her hair by her neck and over her shoulder.

I didn't know what it represented to her but I thought it looked great on her none the less.

"Edward," she whispered, pushing a piece of hair off my forehead, "I love you so much. But you need to run."

"Not without you, my love," I told her, my hands coming up to hold her face. She gasped at the touch and closed her eyes, her bottom lip beginning to quiver with her emotions.

"I can't come with you, Edward. I know you want me to, but I can't. Aro will find out and he'll become furious."

"We'll find Alice and run far away, Bella," I tried to reason with her, my fingers tightening on her face, "Please, Bella. Come with me."

She shook her head and leaned her forehead down on my chest. "I'm sorry, Edward."

I let go of her face and wrapped my arms around her shoulders, molding her body against mine and hiding my nose in her hair, enjoying her scent. I constricted her to my body, wishing I could just hide her in my jacket and run out of here with her.

"Please come with me, Bella. I'm begging you," I whimpered to her, not wanting to leave her ever again.

She inhaled a deep breath unevenly, her fingers threading through the hairs on the back of my neck. "They'd find me, Edward. They have expert hunters and assassins that go on missions all the time."

She pulled away to look at me, her thumbs brushed under my eyes and she ran her pointer finger over the line of my nose before folding her hands behind her back.

She beckoned me to come with her before she spun around and ran down the tunnel and I quickly followed behind her. We ran swiftly through the tunnels, past corners and eventually came upon a flight of stairs.

"Bella?" I squeaked quietly as I looked at the stairs, hesitating.

She spun around on the steep fifth step, and gave me a curious look like I was insane. "Come on, Edward. If you want to get out of here, you need to at least look like you belong here. Otherwise, you're dead."

I couldn't overcome my hesitation or the disgust that I felt with myself for accusing my wife of almost a century, of betraying me.

She sighed, her eyes softening and held out her hand for me. "Don't lose faith in me now, Edward."

I took a deep breath before I grabbed her hand and ran up the stairs with her. We were just turning a corner past the stairs when we heard someone walking by.

Bella flung an arm out, slamming me against the wall and covering my mouth to silence the groan I let out after the back of my head hit the stone wall.

Bella held a finger to her mouth, her eyes wide and alert with fear, before she put on her emotional mask once again and turned away to address the visitor.

"Isabella? What are you doing near the weapons hall?" a man's voice asked. His voice was low and husky, and I knew it was a man I hadn't had the chance of meeting before.

"I'm renewing my weapons collection, Felix. Go guard the East wing," she said dismissively, her voice cold.

"Yes, my Lady," he huffed, and then there was the sound of twisting gravel followed by his retreating steps.

I heard her let out a deep breath she seemed to have been holding before quickly running back for me, grabbing my hand and yanking me into the hall just across from the stairs about ten feet away.

It was large and had organized aisles of weapons varying from knives to machine guns.

There were a total of maybe twenty aisles across the room.

Bella immediately went to the sword and knife section, grabbing a long sword with a thin, but sharp, blade and a gold handle with intricate vines and leaves curling around the base.

"I think this sword is perfect for you. Intricate and beautiful," she winked playfully at me, tossing the sword to me before going through all the daggers.

The sword weighed about ten pounds and felt as if it was meant to be in my hand.

I couldn't help but smile as I whipped the sword through the air, rotating it while rolling my wrist and then balanced the blade on my finger. It was perfectly level.

"Have you used a sword before?" Bella questioned as she watched me whip the sword around as if I were battling three people at once.

"Yes, I have. It was long ago though. I'm surprised I still remember," I recalled, staring at the sword before throwing it to the wall, the blade impaling itself into the stone.

"It's the perfect sword," I commented with a smile, feeling like I was finally contributing something of worth.

She clicked her tongue before disappearing into another, smaller cave on the opposite side, soon returning with a pile of black clothes. She held it out to me and then told me to put them on.

When she saw my hesitation as I reached down to unzip my jeans, she raised her eyebrows, "Are you shy now, Edward?"

I shook my head, "No. I just... don't know you very well anymore."

I didn't know what to say to her.

Bella's eyes saddened and she looked down, finally showing some weakness for the first time since I had found her. "You do know me, Edward," she murmured, her eyes starting to water. "I've just changed a little while we've been away from each other. I'm sorry."

I sighed and quickly unbuttoned and unzipped my pants before I pulled her into my arms, my lips pressing against her shoulder, "I'm sorry, Bella."

She nodded against my neck before pushing me away, holding the clothes up for me to take before turning away to focus on collecting more weapons for her and myself.

I longed to go after her and tell her how much I still loved her, but I quickly stripped down to my grey briefs before slipping on the pair of black cargo pants with countless pockets that reminded me of what soldiers wore when they were stationed in the deserts.

When I held up the shirt she gave me, I raised an eyebrow at how small it was along with the fact that the chest of it was entirely made of shiny silver metal, while the rest of it was chain links that would hang past my butt. I quickly pulled it on after shedding the cotton shirt I was wearing, struggling to get the fitted metal over my chest.

I heard Bella snort and turned to see her watching me with dark and amused eyes. "Having trouble with the uniform?" she teased, winking at me and moving to the other side of the room for a gun she could slide into the holster on her thigh.

"Don't mock me," I hissed back, grabbing a leather jacket similar to the one Bella was wearing, except that this one had a higher folded collar and silver buttons that stopped just past my waist.

I ran a hand through my hair, frowning at how greasy it was, before bending down to retie my boots.

"I have a dagger, a switchblade and a sheath for your sword to wrap around your hips," Bella said, standing in front of me and holding out a small, plain dagger for me to slip into my coat pocket.

"Thank you, love," I whispered, sliding the switchblade into my pants pocket, and then wrapping the sword sheath around my waist.

"You're welcome, Edward." She smiled before running back to the various tables where she started grabbing random weapons, hiding them in her pants, coat pocket, the side of her boot and even in her cleavage.

I was seriously distracted by her sliding the shimmering silver stake between her breasts, but I tried to shift my focus on learning how to breathe with this stainless steel shirt hugging every crease on my body.

"I know the clothes are tight, but it's for your safety and will help you keep up speed without being weighed down," she explained with a sympathetic smile as she hid a long, thin needle that was the size of a knitting needle, in the feather tied into her hair.

"This shirt weighs about six pounds on its own," I told her with a raised eyebrow, wondering how she was going to explain that.

She smiled. "That ties in with the whole 'it's for protection' factor I just told you about it."

"Ah," I said, bouncing my eyebrows, looking down at my extremely accentuated chest and stomach muscles. "The uniform is pretty flattering," I commented with a smirk, glancing at Bella and catching her staring at my abdomen with a hungry gaze.

I smiled when she noticed that I had caught her staring as she just shrugged, having no shame that she was spotted ogling me like a horny teenager.

I missed her like this, missed being intimate with her, but right now was hardly the time. No matter how much I wanted to take her right here and now.

"Okay. You just need this," she handed me a pair of leather gloves like hers, "and then we can go."

I nodded, watching as she stuffed a couple of things that I couldn't make out what they were, into a small backpack before hanging it over her right shoulder and pointing to the exit as she began walking quickly.

I stepped out of her way as she darted out of the weapons room and turned a corner, the tail of her leather coat whipping with her movements.

I followed right behind her as she expertly roamed the tunnels of the underground lair of the Nox Pugnatores.

"Edward, you should know that all I can do is get you out of here. I won't be able to go with you," Bella told me as she strutted through the tunnels, glancing back at me as I stayed right on her heels.

As soon as the words left her lips, I moved at lightning speed to stand in front of her, pushing her up against the wall as my blood began to boil and bubble with anger.

My fingers closed around her neck as I glowered down at her, her eyes widening in shock. "You will come with me, Isabella Cullen!" I snarled at her, the fear of losing her again threatening to unravel me.

She stared up at me evenly, waiting until I calmed down and released my hold on her neck before she signed, "I'm sorry, Edward. I wish I could, but I can't."

I took a deep breath before leaning my forehead against hers, closing my eyes and greedily inhaling her strawberry scent. I was pleasantly surprised that she still used the same shampoo since I was sure it was now hard to come by.

It reminded me of the way things once were.

"You're coming with me whether you want to or not, Bella. I'm not leaving you. These past three months have been dreadful without you," I whispered to her, running my fingers along the side of her cheek.

She looked up at me with sad, emotional eyes before she closed them while inhaling a shaky breath, a single tear falling down her cheek.

"Oh, Edward," she sighed.

"I don't want to hear it. You're coming with me. We have to find Alice!" I snapped. My mind was made up- she was staying by my side.

She mashed her lips together and nodded, a shiver rippling down her spine as she grasped my hand firmly in her own, as if she was telling herself that she was safe with me; that I'd care for her.

"Okay, Edward," she whispered, cracking her scowl with a small smile that flashed a bit of the old Bella I knew and loved.

I'll admit, however, I was thoroughly enjoying the tight clothes this new Bella wore.


	8. Chapter 8

EPOV

I smiled down at her, my fingers leaving her face and running down the side of her arm to her hand. Grasping it, I gave it a squeeze, whispering, "Thank you, Bella."

She nodded again with a worried look in her brown eyes as she quickly glanced around, she grasped my hand back and released a sigh of relief.

"This isn't going to be easy, Edward. There are guards everywhere, at all the exits, and vampire hearing won't exactly make our escape any easier either. We could already be in danger of them knowing," she hissed out in a couple of breaths while pushing us away from the wall, pulling me through another dark tunnel.

"What do you mean we could be busted already?" I asked, gripping her hand as we jogged through the passageway that was coming up to a stone, spiral staircase.

She stopped before the staircase and spun around to look at me, the dull orange glow of the torchlight flickering against the slate walls making her look like a warrior princess.

I tried not to get too distracted by her appearance as she spoke to me.

"It means that the guard by the weapons room could have suspected I was up to something and has reported me already. Felix has been after me for as long as I've been here and doesn't take rejection too well," she sighed, scowling down at the ground and running a gloved hand through her hair roughly.

I looked at her curiously, noticing that though she might have changed physically and psychologically after the apocalypse, she still had the habit of playing with her hair when she was mad or frustrated that she had gotten from me. That thought made me smile down at her lovingly.

"Does Felix want you?" I asked, a bit jealous of the large man preying on my wife, but absolutely overjoyed that Bella stayed monogamous and remained unavailable.

Bella glanced up from the ground and read the expression on my face, before glowering furiously at the smirk on my lips as she crossed her arms defensively.

"Yes!" she snapped. "Got a problem with that?" she asked, offended.

"Not at all. You would never cheat on me," I told her confidently with a smirk that made her face tomato red with fury.

"Fucking asshole!" she barked exasperatedly, spinning around and stomping up the stairs like an upset toddler.

"I love you too, Mrs. Cullen!" I chuckled, taking my first step onto the stone staircase.

She let out a gasp before she leapt towards me, and slapped a gloved palm over my mouth as she held a finger to her lips and stared into my eyes with alarm.

"Don't say that name here, Edward!" she hissed, her eyes darting around as if the walls had grown traitorous ears.

I laid my hand over hers as my brow furrowed in wonder while I took in her alarm. I pried her fingers from my mouth so I could speak.

She shook her head 'no' frantically and took my hand before climbing the steps, pulling me along. "Not now. We have to move."

She held my hand almost painfully as we tip-toed up the stairs. She hovered close to the stone walls and laid a hand on my chest and lightly pushed me against the wall to follow her example.

"We have to stay quiet as we walk through this main hallway, okay? One little noise and it's over. We're dead," she warned in a light whisper as she lightly poked the rough looking wooden door at the top of the stone staircase, glancing back at me with an intensely focused expression. "Be very quiet," she mouthed, holding a single gloved finger to her full red lips.

I nodded, my eyes glazing over with desire and lust as my eyes focused on her lips.

She noticed my expression right away and bared her teeth angrily in a warning before pinching my nose tightly. I was about to cry out in complaint but she quickly slapped her palm over my mouth again and glowered at me.

"Not a sound," she breathed, her sweet breath fanning against my face and tickling my nose.

She raised her eyebrow at me to ask if I understood her before she pressed her back against the wall and crouched down. Then she pressed the door open the rest of the way.

She slapped my leg before grabbing the tail of my jacket and yanking me down to a crouch beside her. Bella went through the door first, on her hands and knees, before glancing back at me and nodding her head to follow her.

She crawled close to the wall and constantly looked around to make sure that we hadn't been discovered yet.

"We have to hide, Edward!" she hissed, grabbing my arms and running for a thick, slate stone pillar. When we reached it, she et me go to leap onto it and climb up.

I watched in awe as she wrapped her arms around the pillar and dug her fingertips into the stones along with the front of her high heeled shoes. She climbed swiftly and was already up at the top, and squeezing through a large hole in the stone ceiling, before I snapped out of my train of thought and threw myself in the air, clawing my way up the stone behind her, my hands barely able to wrap all the way around it.

Bella immediately reached a hand out to grab the back of my coat and tugged me into the large hole she had already gone through.

"Fuck, I hope they didn't hear anything," she whispered as I quickly adjusted myself so I was peeking down at the great hallway of this Night Fighter's liar.

We watched as the warriors walked through the grand hall, led by the huge oaf that had his eyes set on my Bella. He was dressed in a similar outfit as to what Bella had put me in, but he had a large, silver whip coiled and hooked onto his belt

I gritted my teeth and leaned forward out of our hiding place, ready to drop to the ground and tear him limb from limb.

I felt Bella's hand on the back of my coat before she pulled me back, holding a single finger over her lips.

I was immediately distracted by her lips and started leaning forward, wanting a taste. I hadn't kissed my own wife in so long. It might have only been a few months, but it felt like years.

She looked at me curiously, her lips parting as she stared right back at me, her eyes on my lips. I lifted a hand to cradle her cheek as I pushed my lips against hers, fighting back a moan as I felt myself reconnect with her.

"Edward," she whispered into my mouth, so quietly I wasn't even sure she had said anything.  
Her palms came up to rest on each of my cheeks, leaning closer into me as her lips grew fiercer against mine.

I wanted to continue and take her right there, but we needed to stay quiet and wait for the gorilla and the rest of his apes to clear the hall so we could escape.

"Stop," I mouthed to her when I pushed her away, my hands still gripping her face.

She narrowed her eyes before shoving me back and looking down at the hall once again. I followed her example and looked down in search of Felix and the warriors but there was no one in sight.

The hall was empty.

"Let's go!" Bella barked, slapping a hand on the mouth of the hole and swinging her body out, dropping over forty feet to the ground.

I followed right behind her, staring down at the ground as it seemed to rise up to meet my feet.

I landed with a grunt beside Bella, standing back up and looking around the empty hall as my blood spiked with adrenaline when the paranoia of being caught flooded my mind.

"Edward," my love whispered to me as she held out a hand.

I didn't hesitate and took it, running hand in hand with her to the farthest wall away from us. She released my hand before crouching down to the ground and digging her fingers against the rim of a large square tile the width of a bathroom, and dragging it over to the side.

"Drop down, Edward," she snapped, pointing down to the dark underground.

"Uh, where does this lead to?" I asked her, staring at the hole warily.

"To one of the clubs you don't like, Edward. Get in the hole!" she barked, standing up and pushing me down it.

I swore as I landed on my back. "Dammit, Bella!" I groaned, rolling onto my stomach and starting to get up.

"Suck it up, Edward," She grunted as she landed on her feet beside me, pulling the loose tile over our heads.

I growled and pulled myself up onto my feet before looking over at Bella in the darkness and shoving her against the wall.

"Hey!" she complained, raising a hand to punch me.

A growl rumbled in my chest as I caught her hand and pinned it behind her, stepping closer to her until our bodies were flush against each other.

I kept pressing her into the wall in the darkness of the secret passageway until she had to wrap her lean legs around my waist.

"Edward," she breathed, her voice quivering as she looked at me with lidded eyes.

"I want you," I whispered huskily to her, my right hand holding her hand against the wall tighter as my left hand cradled her thigh.

She whimpered and tossed her head back, arching her back as I thrust my hips into her, showing her how aroused I was. "Edward, we can't do this right now," she cried out, her voice shaking.

I nodded, leaning down to nuzzle my face into her neck, inhaling her citrusy scent that drove me crazy with desire. "I know."

"Please, Edward," she begged, "we need to go. We have to stop." She tried very feebly to push me away.

I pulled away from her, urging my erection to subside as I gave Bella some space so she could catch her breath.

"I'm glad I haven't lost my touch," I teased her with a smile. She looked up at me before rolling her eyes and coming towards me to take my hand in hers, squeezing.

"You never will," she promised, gazing at my face lovingly before she looked down the dark passageway.

I knew she was fighting the urge between having her way with me and escaping, so I decided to help her out.

"Let's go, baby," I whispered to her before breaking into a run down the hallway, pulling her along with me as she let go of my hand to run in front of me.

My senses were assaulted with music with a deafening bass and screeches of guitars as we walked into the club. The smell of blood, arousal, booze and sex filled the building, and I struggled to stay standing on my feet as Bella started to pull me through the crowd, smiling at me when a new song started playing.


	9. Chapter 9

EPOV

She distracted me from the colourful and edgy hairstyles of the people around us with facial piercings, spiked leather clothing and gothic make-up. I felt extremely out of place, but Bella seemed just fine, even enjoying herself as she rolled her body as she walked me through the crowd.

Don't wanna be sly and defile you  
Desecrate my mind and rely on you  
I just wanna break this crown  
But it's hard when I'm so run down

And you're so cynical, Narcissistic Cannibal!  
Got to bring myself back from the dead!

Sometimes, I hate, the life, I made  
Everything's wrong every time  
Pushing on I can't escape  
Everything that comes my way  
Is haunting me taking its sweet time

I quickly forgot about everything and watched my wife look over her shoulder at me as she strutted through the crowd in front of me. She turned around and started dancing for me more suggestively, her hair falling in front of her face as she whipped her head from side to side.

I growled as I stepped towards her, my eyes black with lust and every fibre of my being taut and ready to take her against the nearest wall.

She ran her hands through her hair, pulling the stray strands away from her face before running them over her neck and between her breasts, down her armoured stomach. Her eyes glittered with mischief as she continued to taunt me with her beautiful body and arousing dance moves.

"Come here, Bella," I ordered in a hoarse voice, lifting a hand and curling a finger at her.

She shook her head and spun away from me, moving deeper into the crowd, ignoring the men that tried to grind up against her. I gritted my teeth as I tried to control my possessiveness and the urge to rip those men to shreds and followed her, noticing that she was heading to the restrooms in the back of the club.

When I was out of the thick crowd of sweaty, horny dancing adults, I noticed people in the corners of the club, feeding and bathing in the blood of the dying. My lip curled in disgust and I quickly went into the bathrooms to find Isabella, and show her how much I had missed her and needed her.

She was standing in front of the sink, staring into her own reflection in the mirror - a blank expression on her face.

I watched her, licking my lips as I let my eyes wander over her body wrapped in metal, leather and cotton. She looked like a Grecian warrior princess. Almost like she was a direct descendent of Artemis. All she needed was a bow and arrow.

Bella's eyes connected with mine and she slowly turned around to face me, leaning against the sink and crossing her high heeled feet together.

"Looking for something, Mister? You're in the wrong lavatory," she teased with a sly smile, her eyes shimmering.

I narrowed my eyes at her as I stepped towards her, flicking the silver deadbolt on the bathroom door. "You're a tease," I told her, my voice low and gritty again with my arousal.

She kept playing coy, pushing her coat away from her body, showing me how her leather pants hugged her hips, thighs and legs like a second skin.

"What are you going to do about it, Cullen?"

I growled before I launched myself at her, my mouth latching onto hers as my fingers untied the string of her pants and yanked it past her hips.

"Gah! Edward!" she gasped as I got straight to the point…which was that I wanted to claim my wife once again.

She was gasping, whimpering and moaning as I peeled off her pants and unzipped her boots and immediately wrapped her legs around my waist.

"Bella, I need you," I rasped into her ear as my lips attacked her neck, and one of my hands slid between us so I could unzip my pants, releasing my throbbing erection from the zipper of my leather

"God, Edward!" she hissed as I slid up against her but wasted no time and slowly pushed myself inside of her.

We both released loud profanities and clung to each other like it was our last day on Earth.

"Fuck!"

"Shit!"

Her fingers weaved into my hair as I began thrusting into her, desperate for a release. I hadn't been with my wife for months, and we had always had a moderately physical relationship.

We always craved one another.

I growled into her neck, my mind clouding over with nothing but the feeling of my erection rubbing against her internal walls that spasmed around me with my violent and aggressive thrusts.

She spat out a 'fuck' when I thrashed her up and shattered the mirror behind her. I didn't mean to be so rough but my body was in full control over my mind; leaving an apology in the dust as I continued drilling into my wife.

"Edward! Fu-!" she cried out as her walls shook a final time before constricting around me.

I gasped at the pressure of her climax and followed her orgasm with my own, my legs shaking as every single muscle flexed.

Bella arched her back as the climax rocked her body, her chest rising to my face. I took full advantage of that and laid my cheek against her heated breast as I tried to catch my breath, her heart pounding inside her chest and her skin slick with a thin layer of sweat.

"Edward," she murmured incoherently as she tried catch her breath and wrapped herself around me tightly, laying her face on the top of my head, inhaling my scent.

I looked up at her and stared into her beautiful eyes, seeing the amazing young woman I had married so many years ago. I was starstruck by her strength and passion.

"I love you, Isabella," I whispered, pressing my lips to hers before stepping back away from her and tucking myself back into my pants.

"I love you too, Edward," she smiled, hopping off the sink.

I laughed as she stumbled around, her knees a little shaky from our sexual reuniting as she reached over to grab her pants.

"You okay, baby?" I asked her with a chuckle, ignoring the glare she shot me as she yanked the skin tight pants up her muscular legs and over her bubble butt. I fought the urge to lick my lips.

"I'm just fine!" she growled as she tied her pants back up and slipped on her boots, zipping them and standing back up.

Abruptly, there was banging on the bathroom door with angry voices yelling for us to get out. I immediately recognized the voice and looked at Bella with fear.

"Oh fuck!" she spat, straightening her jacket and adjusting her shirt and armour before looking around the bathroom for a way out.

I spun around and looked at the stalls, walking past each one of them and kicking them open in hopes of finding a window we could squeeze through.

The clashing of the steel stalls only confirmed our presence and Felix started trying to knock down the door, snarling while he did.

"Edward! Look!" Bella barked, grabbing my arm and yanking me down to the farthest wall away from the door where a small, rectangular window was.

I grinned when I saw it and pulled my fist back and flung it forward, shattering the glass. I grabbed Bella's hands and bent my knees slightly so she could step on one of them before diving through the window into the night.

Felix crashed against the door, leaving a huge crack through the center of the steel. I focused my gaze on the top of his boot being pulled away from the door before being thrust forward again, breaking a hole big enough for him to put his meaty arm threw.

"Edward!" Bella yelled from the other side of the window, a thump sounding against the wall as she probably kicked it in frustration.

I turned away from the bathroom door and leapt up onto the window sill and flung myself out. I realized I hadn't thought that move through very well when I landed flat on my back in muddy grass.


	10. Chapter 10

EPOV

Bella was instantly by my side, offering me a hand to help me up with a playful smirk on her face.

"Thank you, love," I groaned, tugging lightly on her hand to stand myself back up, dusting off blades of grass that scattered over my body.

Bella chuckled, picking a piece of grass from my hair, "No problem."

She looked around us at our surroundings. At least it was night. I followed her gaze up to where the sun comes up and noticed that it must be about three in the morning. It was dark, but light enough that we could make out our hands in front of our faces.

I looked out onto the trees that stood between us and the safe house that was two blocks north.

"How is there still forestry here?" I asked, frowning at the trees that still stood. They were blackened from fire, but still standing.

"I honestly have no idea. The ground here must have been lucky," Bella answered, looking around once more before walking towards the black forest, "Let's go before Felix and the buffoons catch up."

We broke out into a run, dodging trees and hopping over fallen tree trunks as we ran in the direction of the safe house. We had only been running a couple minutes when we heard footsteps and yelling behind us.

"Oh shit!" Bella gasped, glancing at me before pushing her legs faster, yanking on my arm to go faster with her.

"Oh, God," I groaned, seeing the outline of the safe house and two figures in front of it.

"Alice! Jasper! Run!" Bella yelled towards them, glancing back over her shoulder as the Volturi warriors gained on us – all of them yelling furiously, ready to kill.

"We're not running!" Jasper's rough voice called back to us as he grabbed Alice's hand and stood ready to fight. Alice mirrored his position with a dangerous and fearless stance.

They launched forward and broke out into a sprint towards us as we dodged the arms and legs that were trying to immobilize us.

I spun around in a flash and dropped to the ground, sticking a leg out for the man behind me to trip over before another launched forward.

"Fucker!" I growled as I stood back up and lifted my ankle to pull a dagger from my boot and flung it at him.

I paused when I heard the scream of Bella.

"Bitch!" Felix barked as he tackled Bella to the ground.

I spun around to see Alice and Jasper running towards us and launching themselves into the air and both taking down a Fighter.

I ran for Bella before I pulled my foot back and slammed it into Felix's face so Bella could slide out from underneath him.

"Bella!" I gasped, grabbing her hand and yanking her behind me as we were slowly being surrounded by a total of ten Volturi Night Fighters.

They all pulled out various weapons like swords and clubs and slowly took a couple steps towards us, their fangs bared and crouched low.

Bella looked around at them all with wide eyes, her hand sliding down the side of my right thigh and tapping the sword. I looked down at her to see her looking at me, her eyes sending me messages that I fully understood.

She nodded at me again, glancing at the swords and I nodded back, tapping the swords hanging on her back.

She mouthed the words, "One. Two. Three."

In the blink of an eye, Bella grabbed two swords from behind her, out from under her coat and threw them backwards into the air before throwing herself forward.

All the warriors looked up to see Alice and Jasper soaring through the air to catch the swords before plummeting down into two of the Warriors, commencing a battle.

She screamed as she pulled out a switchblade and flashed by two Fighters, slitting both of their throats while they were distracted.

"Sword, Edward!" Bella barked at me, grabbing the stake from her breast and tackling down a blond haired man and driving it through his heart.

I nodded and drew my sword, glaring at a tall, brown haired man that came towards me hissing and flinging around his sword. I curled a finger for him to make the first move and he didn't disappoint. He jumped forward and yelled as she brought his sword down on me.

I blocked his hit with my sword, the sound of the clashing metal echoing through the forest before I dropped down in a roundhouse kick, knocking him off his feet and on his back.

"Fuck!" he yelled as I kicked his sword away and held the tip of mine to his neck.

I growled before shoving the blade threw his jugular and yanking it out as the blood gushed and poured over his chest.

"The young ones never learn," I muttered to myself before looking up and seeing Alice on the back of a massive man with her little, wiry arms wrapped around his neck and her face in his neck.

My lip curled in disgust as I remembered how nasty Alice could get if she allowed her true nature to surface.

There were screams of pain and rage all around me and I felt guilty for taking the lives of them. But it was a matter of life and death and if I didn't fight – it would be death for me.

I scanned around myself to spot Bella yelling out in bloodlust as she whipped her two swords around her body, blocking Felix's blows and slicing at his arms and legs.

She held her ground as the man twice her size whacked her down with his sword, going full force on her. There was a sneer on her face before she caught his sword in the 'X' of her swords crossed together and screamed as she threw them back.

Her leg connected with his midsection before she whipped one of her swords towards a tree trunk near by, imbedding itself. She ran for it, looking back to make sure Felix was following before she jumped onto her sword and jumped into the air.

Her body arched backwards as she soared over Felix and landed behind him with a grunt. Bella took no chance and shoved her sword into Felix's back and out his chest, threw his heart.

I immediately jumped into action and yanked out a dagger from my boot before tossing it through the air, watching as it buried into Felix's neck.

He gasped in shock before wide eyes looked into mine. The entry wound of the knife was swelling with blood, pure crimson liquid slowing oozing from the entry wound and down his neck. I sneered at him before Bella finished the job with a dagger through the heart, before she moving onto one of the four that were attacking Alice and Jasper.

I snuck up behind the one that was trying to stab Jasper in the side every chance he got, and kicked the back of his knees so he fell forward. The Warrior gasped before falling onto his hands and knees, slowly bringing his head up just as Jasper snarled and drove his sword through his chest.

Jasper tugged the sword back from the Warrior's body before squatting down and wiping the bloody blade on his leather jacket.

"Is that it then?" Alice huffed as she stood up from finishing off the last warrior with a knife in the man's throat.

She looked over to Jasper, her eyes dark with bloodlust while her lips parted as she panted. He didn't say a word but stared at her, his eyes slightly narrowed as he looked her over. I felt like I was intruding by watching them and looked to my Bella.

"No. It's not even close to the end," Bella sighed, looking back to where the Volturi's lair was.

I took in the sight of my wife.

Winded and covered in blood spatter as she looked around us in exhaustion, but still ready for another wave of fighters to take on. Her eyes were wide and her lips were parted. The black waterfall of her hair was tousled and tangled around her shoulders. She looked like a beautiful Greek princess. She was mesmerizing to behold.

"We should move," Jasper panted, opening his arms as Alice came running to his side, wrapping her arms around his waist.

Bella nodded and looked at me, her eyes dark and shimmering with her dangerous frame of mind. I held her gaze and took a couple steps towards her.

"Edward!" she gasped before running and smacking into me, our armor pieces clanging together as we wrapped each other in our arms.

I tried not to laugh but I did crack and smile, holding her against me as Alice and Jasper began talking quietly to each other, most likely trying to come up with a plan to find safe shelter.

"What do we do now, Bella?" I whispered into her ear, leaning my head against hers and pressing my lips through her thick hair to reach her ear.

She took a deep breath and looked over her shoulder at the fallen Warriors. "I don't know," she murmured absently.

I knew she was silently mourning them and I tried not to get offended by it since it was absurd to be sad over such savages that you only knew for maybe a month or two.

I lightly pulled her to my side and away from the battlefield to catch up to Jasper and Alice who were hissing at each other... as if nothing had changed.

I looked down at Bella, watching her eyes dart all over the place in front of her as we walked briskly away from the Volturi's place as she thought. "What are you thinking about?"

Her frantic eyes settled onto me for only a moment before looking back in front of us. "Where to go."

"Any ideas?" I asked, somewhat worried that she knew of nowhere safe to go.

"Yeah. One." She looked at me.


End file.
